Level 3, Data Direct Networks Deliver for TV Networks

Data Direct Networks powers Starz and ENCORE TV networks, and Level 3 enables the U.S. Open video for the Tennis channel.

Data Direct Networks supports Starz service

DataDirect Networks (DDN) announced that Starz and ENCORE pay TV networks have implemented DDN GRID Scaler parallel file system and NAS solution to power its business-critical broadcast system, laying the foundation for future programming content growth. Starz was looking to upgrade further to a massively scalable, high-density and powerful storage platform to ensure expedited and reliable delivery of more than 600TBs of digital media for the more than 1,000 movies and original series episodes it provides to its millions of subscribers each month. DDN helped Starz nearly double its storage capacity, cut in half both its transcode and data center footprints including licensing and hardware costs, and add disaster recovery capabilities without adding additional administrative overhead.

“DDN GRIDScaler is incredibly dense, as we now support primary and DR storage in four racks, compared to the nine racks we had for our legacy system in Englewood alone," said Colin McGuire, Director of Infrastructure Services for Starz. "This lowers our storage Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) considerably and elevates energy and disk-performance efficiency.”

Level 3 enables Tennis Channel

level 3 Communications (LVLT) announced it has successfully enabled the Tennis Channel to deliver the 2013 U.S. Open Tennis Championships as part of a new TV Everywhere application, which includes live playback of the Tennis Channel's 24/7 broadcast network. Tennis Channel was able to use Level 3's content delivery network (CDN) and Vyvx broadcast capabilities to give its viewers around the world a consistent HD-quality experience during the U.S. Open. In total, Level 3 delivered more than 75 hours of live or first-run U.S. Open matches to connected viewers, and going forward, will continue to stream the network full-time 24 hours a day, seven days a week for tennis fans everywhere.

"The U.S. Open marks the first time Tennis Channel has delivered authenticated live U.S. Open content to PCs and mobile devices, and Level 3's extensive global network allowed us to seamlessly reach our audience through multiple platforms," said Dean Hadaegh, senior vice president of Broadcast Operations and chief technology officer at Tennis Channel. "Our teams worked tirelessly to create a one-of-a-kind tennis viewing experience, and with Level 3's content delivery expertise, we successfully introduced new ways for tennis fans to interface with our content."